Creating a Lake

[Renze]

Hey Eddie, some say that you can sleep well with a symphony of raindrops on your bedroom windows.
In your case, i can really imagine howstatisfying this sound must be to you...

I can imagine how good it feels, to see nature finish your project, after more than 1,5 year of hard work !

 

[EddieWalker]

Hey Renze,

Your right about the rain haveing extra meaning to me when it happens. The next morning I work my way through the mud just to see what the water has done when it hits the ground. I follow the path it takes to see where it goes.

This project first started as an idea I had over two years ago. I knew from my top map that I had a low area that I couldn't build on. It was too thick to get to by foot, so one day I just pointed the dozer in that direction to see what it was like. After a short distance, I saw standing water. I turned right and just worked my way along the edge of the wet areas. After awhile, I came to my property line, the creek. Here I turened left, and then I worked my way along the creek by pushing trees and shrubs out of the way working my way around the wet area.

I went to a point I new I had to leave alone for my sewer system and turned back towards where I started. I just kept out of the wet area and made a circle all the way around.

At the time I did this, I had no idea of how big the circle was, or what shape it was. It was just an outline and how I based the location and size of the lake. I was honestly shocked at the shape of it when I had the trees out of the way. I had thought it was a long oval or skinny triangle in shape. I was worried that it was so narrow that people fishing on the sides would hit the oposite shoreline when they cast there poles. I was hopeing for 3 acres, but just couldn't figure out how to measure it. I also didn't think I'd be able to get the trees out because of the mud. I never anticipated two years of extreme drought. I was going to build the dam as tall as I could and cut the trees down with a chainsaw, then pull them out when they floated to the edge. It would have been a mess that I can see now would never have worked, or been something nice. I got very lucky the weather did what it did and how it turned out.

This all happened around the time I met Steph, so there is a parralel to my relationship with her and the building of the lake. I can come up with all sorts of parallels to them, but will leave it as a wonderful sense of accomplishment and happiness. I foresee both to continue to get better and better over the years!!!!!

I've ordered a 3 inch trash pump off ebay and some hoses from Northern Tool that should be here towards the end of the week. I'll update with pics and my observations when that happens. Today I think I'll pull the gas tank out of my parts car, a 1988 Chevy s-10 blazer. I'll use it for a larger fuel source so I can keep the pump running 24/7.

Eddie

 

[stumpfield]

Hey Eddie, this is a very interesting thread. You can write a book or make an adventure movie out of this experience . I'm so inspired by all this and wanting to create my own lake. I spent a few early mornings last week walking the area and day dreaming about a lake there. I'm hoping you and those who read this thread have more experience and give me a few comments. Here's the topo map and a rough outline of the dam.

 

[EddieWalker]

Hey Stump,

I'm no expert at this, as I'm sure is obvious from this post. hahaha But from the look of your topo map, I'd say you have the perfect location for a pond right where you drew your dam.

Everything I know about pond building is summed up real easy. It takes ten times longer to do it than you could possibly imagine!!!

What you realy need to do is start reading posts over at Pond Boss Magazine Home Page!

There is one right now about what people did wrong when they built there ponds. There are other threads about coring your dam, building structure, soild types, fish to stock and it goes on and on.

Do a search for a guy named Brettski. He just built a really nice 5 acre pond and has done a ton of research into what and how to do it right.

The holey grail on pond building is probably Pub 590. This is a government publication on how to build a pond and how to size everything. There are all sorts of tables to do your calulations, plus diagrams and instructions. I don't think I mentioned it earlier, so here's the link to read it. You really should read all of it before doing anything. I've read it about a dozen times. hahaha

http://www.in.nrcs.usda.gov/pdf files/PONDS.PDF

And when you decide to start this project, I'd sure love to see pics and some discussion of the process.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[Renze]

Eddie what's the plan with the fuel tank and the pump ? are you going to pump water from the creek on the edge of your property ?

 

[EddieWalker]

Hey Renze,

Sorry for taking so long to reply. I sort of figured I'd have the pump running by now and be able to show some pics of it in operation. I sort of got sidetracked into a few other things and it's all sitting on the floor in my shop.

Right now, the weather forecast is 90% for rain, so I'm gonna wait for that before putting out the pump.

Since it's supposed to rain, I decided to fix that culvert problem from a few weeks ago.

First I dug it out with my backhoe, then I stacked 40 pound sacks of readi mix around the opening. After they were in place, I cut some 3/8 rebar and hammered it through the sacks. To help it set up before the rains get here, I filled up a bucket from the lake and dumped it over the sacks. I figured that with the hole in the paper from the rebar, it should set up enough to make it through the storm.

On the exit side, I had some erosion from the heavy rains running off the road. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. hahaha I figure a few sacks will help hold the dirt back and let it compact. If you look close in the picture, you can see that there is a chunk of concrete at the bottom of that trench.

I seem to have all sorts of these leftovers from back when my land was part or Camp Fanin's Rifle Range #4. I'm making piles for rip-rap to cut down on erosion as water comes out of the culverts.

Eddie

 

[3RRL]

Eddie,
I like your culvert storm drain wall. Once it sets up it should provide a lot of resistance to erosion. I still have one culvert to repair and place rip rap before it. I may do exactly what you did. Thanks for the idea. I should have done it earlier but oh well. Luckily, I can divert the flow to another one, nearby.
Great pics you posted too.

 

[wushaw]

Eddie, I must have missed something in 48 pages worth of material but I have a question or two on this culvert...why are the banks so steep? and is this one gonna be permanent?

 

[EddieWalker]

Rob,

Thanks.

Wushaw,

The culvert is permanent, but it's located next to a very large dirt pile that I'll be taking down over the next year. It's in the tens of thousands of yards, so it's gonna be awhile . hahaha

The steepness of the sides is a little deceptive. After I backfilled the readi mix sacks, I dug a deep pit in front of the culvert. It's over 4 feet deep and 6 feet wide with the goal of catching silt from the rain runoff. Instead of the water running right through the culvert, it will fill up the pit and then the water will overflow the pit and drain into the lake.

I dug one before these repairs that filled up in the same storm that damaged the culvert. Everything I catch in this pit is that much less that will settle in the bottom of my lake.

Sometime this spring, I'll finish grade that area and plant it in bermuda grass.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[wushaw]

Ok that makes sense.